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Photos by Shelby Schwartz/The Advocate
Dave Barduhn leading the cast in the "Time Warp," during Monday's rehearsal in the College Theater.
The 'Rocky Horror Show' meets GenesisMusic Director and Pianist Assist RHS Production
The Advocate
When "Rocky Horror Show" opens Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at the College Theater, the music will join the actors in the spotlight.
Dave Barduhn, director of MHCC's vocal jazz group Genesis, is acting as the vocal coach and music director for "Rocky Horror."
"I helped with the auditions and decided who could sing what. I coached the leads on their singing parts and coach the chorus parts and teach those," Barduhn said.
As well as teaching the actors their singing parts, he must also coordinate the singing and the musical parts.
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"I recruited the band and coached them on their performance," Barduhn said, "They have been rehearsing on their own but I coordinate between the singers and the band. These last two weeks is really where my job begins," he said.
Barduhn has been teaching at MHCC as a full time faculty member since 1988. "I've done at least 15 shows," Barduhn said.
Asked about teaching less experienced singers their parts, Barduhn said, "It's just repetition and you break things down and repeat and repeat and repeat. Most of them can sing brilliantly but they just don't read music. It's an aural process instead of a written process."
The rehearsals are sometimes split between Barduhn and theater director Jennifer Hunter "At the very beginning, Dave has the whole rehearsal for three to four times a week and then we scale it back from there," she said.
Another person working behind the scenes in the upcoming science fiction musical is keyboardist Shawn Schlogel, a second- year music major.
"(He) is the first student we have had in a while that has served as the keyboardist for the band and the rehearsal accompanist," Barduhn said. "In recent years we have hired a professional accompanist, but he had enough skill and commitment,"
"The last student we had do this is now the touring keyboardist for Mariah Carey," he said.
Barduhn was referring to Peter Dyer, who graduated four years ago from MHCC. "He told us the skills that he needs for Mariah were most closely related to doing our musicals," Barduhn said.
As for being both rehearsal accompanist and keyboardist for the band. Schlogel said, "I assumed they were hand in hand. I had no idea they were separate."
The musical will feature a five-piece band, including Schlogel who plays the synthesizer also known as the electric keyboardist.
"He has to invent sound effects, he has to find the correct sounds, and there are a lot of keyboard orchestration/compositions he has to invent," Barduhn said.
The other instruments include the electric guitar, the electric bass, drums and saxophone.
For the rehearsals, the actors practice with only the rehearsal accompanist; the five-piece band plays for the shows.
"It will all be live," Barduhn said of the music.
As well as being the rehearsal accompanist and the keyboardist for the "Rocky Horror" band, Schlogel is the keyboardist for Genesis.
Asked how it has been balancing the three roles he said, "Tough, I've had to up my discipline to make it work. It's demanding because music can only get better, it's tough to give it my all. It's been working out though," Schlogel said.
"I took the book home over Christmas break. I referred to the CD. The book is a guideline so I had to make up most of what I'm playing." Schlogel said.
Barduhn said, "We are doing a unique version of the show." He said all the vocal arrangements were done by a former student, Kip Taisey.
"He totally re-orchestrated the music for this, put it in computer notation. The original score is done in hand manuscript and is sometimes hard to read," Barduhn said.
"He arranged the choral parts so they are sing-able," Barduhn said, adding that the chorus parts will sound cleaner and brighter.
There will be one musical part that was not in the original musical or the movie-musical. That is an a capella intro that Kip Taisey added to "Over at the Frankenstein's Place."
Along with the a capella intro, there will be one song that Brad sings — "Once in a While" — that is not in the movie version of the musical but it is in the original musical, Hunter said.
"Rocky Horror" will be performed Feb. 17-19 and Feb. 24-27. For more information, call 503-491-7154.
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